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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27121759">Tic Tac Triumvirate</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/RecursiveMontage/pseuds/RecursiveMontage'>RecursiveMontage</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Parahumans Series - Wildbow</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Cauldron Game Night, Gen</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 18:22:02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,457</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27121759</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/RecursiveMontage/pseuds/RecursiveMontage</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Contessa finally gets to play her favourite game, and so do some other people.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Rebecca Costa-Brown | Alexandria/Fortuna | Contessa</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>play stupid games win stupid prizes</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Tic Tac Triumvirate</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>“I thought we agreed we weren’t going to use powers,” Legend said, glaring over the table at his opponent.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m not,” Contessa replied. “You’re down to a minute, by the way.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Gah. Why do we even have to use these timers?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We’ve been using them in our real meetings for years,” Alexandria said from the sidelines, where she and Eidolon were waiting to play. “This is why we didn’t fill you in on everything earlier. Nothing would get done, you’re too indecisive.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well excuse me if I’d like to take more than five minutes to think before committing crimes against humanity,” he retorted, before turning his eyes back to the game board. He couldn’t let himself get distracted by unimportant matters.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Legend considered his options carefully. All seemed lost. But if Contessa really wasn’t using her power… It was possible. He made his move, aiming to consolidate his position at the top of the board, before smacking the chess clock.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He held his breath, rising to his feet and looming over the table, as Contessa evaluated the new state of affairs. He’d cut off one avenue of attack and solidified his control of a critical space. But it wasn’t enough.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Her pen hit the paper, writing out his doom. She placed her final mark in the bottom-left square. Then she looked him dead in the eye and, slowly but surely, dragged a line straight through the three consecutive O’s. She’d won.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Legend slumped back into his chair. It was cold and lumpy like he deserved.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That’s one down. Who’s next?” Contessa asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Eidolon swept in. After resetting the clocks and shuffling seats around, he took the first move – occupying the centre. Near-optimal play.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m not going to give you another win,” he said, smugly. “I sat through hours of Number Man lecturing me about the impossibility of winning this game if both sides know what they’re doing. He called this whole endeavour pointless. But now I can finally score a draw against you, and then it’s only a matter of time before I surpass you.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Contessa briefly considered his words, and then punched him in the nose. The blow had none of her usual elegance, but still struck hard enough to knock him to the floor. He cried out in pain, his hands releasing a glow that began to boost him upwards.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Power use is a forfeit, David,” Alexandria chimed in with a reminder while Contessa climbed onto the table. Eidolon scowled, dropping back onto the tiles, and started to push himself to his feet like the unpowered schlub he temporarily was.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What the hell—” His remark was cut off when a flying elbow collided with his front teeth.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The diving attack sent Contessa sprawling as well, and she staggered back to her feet. She walked back over to the game, favouring one leg slightly, as she spoke to the man she’d downed, “You always wanted a proper fight with me. Well, now you’ve got one, for the next four and a half minutes. Loser.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She filled in a side square, hit the clock, and approached Eidolon again just as he popped back up. He took a wild swing, managing to graze her before she delivered another hit straight to his stomach. Contessa winced as she followed up on the blow – her knuckles stung from hitting his concrete-tough fake abs.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Alexandria watched the increasingly one-sided beatdown with interest. Eidolon’s grunts of effort and pain did detract from the spectacle, admittedly, but she could live with it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Contessa’s movements were usually so fluid and efficient, but now there was an aspect of real viciousness to her swipes, alongside a smattering of uncharacteristic clumsiness. A few of her kicks were off course, but her hits were landing more often than Eidolon’s were. He may have had the mass advantage, but his inferiority complex was nothing compared to the motivation Contessa drew from her simple desire to draw three circles in a row, column, or diagonal line.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Perhaps she’d fought hand-to-hand enough to have an idea of what worked. Or maybe she was unleashing a previously hidden side of herself. A brutal, brooding, dark side that drove her to whack Eidolon in the head over and over again, as his guard dropped more and more often. Either way, Alexandria felt a blush sliding its way up her face as she watched Contessa pummel the grown man to a pulp.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Legend almost intervened when the soon-to-be-victor started kicking Eidolon in the ribs while he lay twitching on the floor. Thankfully, Alexandria noticed his intentions in time to stop him. Gripping Legend’s shoulder hard enough to make him shudder got the message across. He stayed in his cold, lumpy chair, and watched as one of his colleagues beat the ever-loving shit out of another.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Eventually, a small beeping noise interrupted Alexandria’s voyeurism, and Contessa ceased her attacks. Time was up. She was breathing heavily as she readjusted her tie, leaving it just a little sloppier than her usual crisp knot.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Returning to the game, Contessa affirmed her victory by filling in every one of the available boxes, claiming the whole border as her own. She struck a three-in-a-row line on each side.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Two down. Your turn.” Contessa nodded at Alexandria. She didn’t need to be told twice.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That trick won’t work on me, you know,” the heroine said amicably, once they were set up. “Can’t exactly turn my power off the same way.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Contessa nodded again, nostrils flaring to increase oxygen intake. There was nothing sensual about the gesture, which simply arose from the need to affirm a statement without the risk of falling into a gasping heap like the one on the floor behind them. But it was a good nod. Alexandria would die for that nod.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And I’m afraid I’ve already memorised all possible permutations of the game, entirely by accident,” she continued. “But I know you want to win this… So perhaps we can work something out?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“A deal?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Alexandria nodded – feeling a brief stab of insecurity regarding the obvious inadequacy of her own head movement – and leant in to explain her terms.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Legend watched from his seat, idly reading their lips as the two women fell into intense negotiation. Shortly after they got into the particulars, he averted his gaze. He’d missed out on a lot over the years, what with everyone deceiving him as to the fundamental purpose of the organisation he’d dedicated his life towards, but there were some conversations that he didn’t need to be privy to.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Instead, he found himself looking down at an unconscious Eidolon. The man’s breathing was shallow, his mouth speckled with blood, and his abs dented. Legend took a few hesitant steps away from his chair, staying low to the ground and being careful not to make any noises that could draw attention.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He picked up his teammate, shivering slightly as he brushed against the deep patch of sweat in Eidolon’s armpits. Secure in the knowledge that he had only witnessed a violent assault rather than a murder (or any of the other regularly occurring severe crimes that he had managed to avoid seeing for many years), he draped Eidolon’s body over a few of the plush, comfortable chairs beside his own. The new position would probably save the guy some back pain after he woke up, which was pretty important considering all the spine-stomping he’d just gone through. Yes, Legend decided, it sure was a good thing that he was here to help out.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>His line of thought didn’t last long – which was normal for him, but in this particular case it was due to an external interruption. Contessa and Alexandria had come to an agreement.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“There we go. You can have three O’s now, and I’ll get my triple X later,” Alexandria said, biting her lip in a way that she was trying to make look appealing even as she referenced a children’s game in her innuendo.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Sealing the deal with a quick kiss to the cheek, Contessa quickly struck off a solid line right through the centre that penetrated between Alexandria’s sharp X’s. She allowed herself a moment to bask in her total domination, before looking up to see Alexandria looming over their two male teammates. The rest of the round-robin still had to go ahead, after all.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Examining the Triumvirate from a short distance, she noticed something. Her brain was wired from all the training she’d done, prepared to recognise certain patterns. Her finger traced an imaginary line in the air. From Alexandria’s face, down through Legend’s, and finally Eidolon’s. None of them were perfectly round, but they didn’t have to be.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Contessa smiled, unguided. It wasn’t perfect either.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Three in a row. Tic Tac Toe.”</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
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